Panzerkraft!
by William Lamb
Summary: Sixteen year old Jeremy Shirasawa is the newest commander for the Ibaraki Co-Ed Academy. Can he lead his team to victory in the European tournament? First story for potential trilogy.


_Greetings ladies and gents! After taking a long sabbatical, I have returned to bless the GuP fandom with another act of lunacy! For those who have read what I had of Misfits In Action, I am afraid that particular project has been terminated. However, I have taken the ideas I had in mind for that story as well as my other project, thrown them together, and came up with this story.  
_

 _Just to let you know, this IS a B.i.T story._

 _This first chapter is basically a way to introduce characters and my little universe. I will be making the European Panzerkraft Federation similar but with differences to the Japanese Senshado Federation._

 _Timeline: Takes place as the National Tournament in the canon anime._

 **Chapter One.**

 **The Battle Of Pointe Du Hoc**

Off of the southern coast of Normandy, France, a massive ship turned into the waves as it began its final approach prior to docking at the equally massive harbor that had been constructed to accommodate vessels of its size. The ship was a colossal aircraft carrier that measured eight thousand metres in length. Upon its deck, a small city had been constructed.

This was the school ship housing the Ibaraki Co-Ed Academy. The school had been founded ten years before by Kazuo Shirasawa and his wife, Hitomi, as a means to introduce true Japanese culture to the United States. As such, the city had been built to resemble the residential and business district of Ooarai while the areas surrounding the city was identical to the Japanese countryside.

In the beginning, the Academy had been built to educate students from junior high on up to high school but had recently added an elementary school due to the staff members living on the ship with their families. The ship also contained a top notch hospital and a shopping mall.

Inside one of the houses, sixteen year old Jeremy Shirasawa groaned in annoyance as the buzzing of the alarm clock sitting beside his bed woke him up, shattering the wonderful dream that he had been having. Rolling over, Jeremy slapped the shut-off switch, silencing the annoying device.

Forcing himself into a sitting position, Jeremy ran a hand through his naturally-messy dark-brown hair while the fingers of his other hand were used to rub the sleep from his dark blue eyes. Standing up, Jeremy gave the muscles in his five-foot, eleven inch tall body a good stretch.

As his sleep-clouded mind slowly cleared, Jeremy gasped as he remembered what day it was and he hurriedly removed his bedclothes and hurried into his personal bathroom. Like the other bedrooms in the house, Jeremy's bedroom had been built with an adjoining bathroom. Which came in handy seeing as how a total of five people lived in the house with three of them being teenaged girls.

Standing underneath the showerhead, Jeremy yelped as the still-cold water struck his naked body, waking him up even further. After thirty minutes of giving himself a good wash-down, Jeremy was now fully awake and almost ready to face the day.

After drying himself off, Jeremy stepped back into his bedroom and walked towards his closet. Upon opening it, he sighed as he took in the sight of his new combat uniform. The uniform had been made to resemble the one worn by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War Two and consisted of a tan shirt and trousers, dark brown jacket, a tan forage cap, black knee-high boots, and a black leather belt with a shoulder strap.

Taking the uniform out of the closet, Jeremy gave it an unceremonious toss over his shoulder, allowing it to land on his bed in a pile. Jeremy then retrieved a pair of clean underwear and socks from his dresser and put them on. Then, he began putting on the uniform. After he was done, Jeremy looked into his mirror and snorted in disgust as he noticed that he looked just like a Japanese officer in World War 2.

 _I look like I should be in Chi-Ha-Tan._ he thought. After a moment's thought, Jeremy whipped the forage cap from his head and tossed it across the bedroom with a snap of his wrist. Taking a deep breath, Jeremy then opened his bedroom door and exited the bedroom.

As he stepped out into the hallway, Jeremy gasped as he almost collided with the girl who had been walking past his bedroom door on her way to the staircase. At his sudden appearance, the girl gave a startled squeal.

"God, _Nii-san!,_ " fourteen year old Lena Shirasawa exclaimed, as she gave her older brother a retaliatory slap on his arm. "You scared me half to death!"

Lena was dressed in her own combat uniform that consisted of only a tan shirt and shorts with the same knee-high boots, belt, and shoulder strap as Jeremy. Her own dark-brown hair was loose with a blue band in it. Like Jeremy, Lena also had dark blue eyes despite being half-Japanese.

"Sorry, _imoto_..." Jeremy replied, rubbing the area of his arm where Lena's hand had made contact. Looking at his sister's hand, he noticed that she had her smartphone set on its video player setting. "What are you watching anyway?"

In response, Lena held up her phone to show Jeremy the video. "Ooarai has a Tankery team again!" she announced happily.

"SAY WHAT?!"

Jeremy and Lena had been born in San Diego, California to an American father and a Japanese mother. When Jeremy had been four and Lena two, their mother divorced her husband and returned to her hometown of Ooarai, Japan, taking her children with her. While Jeremy and Lena had both faced problems from the other kids in elementary school due to being only half-Japanese, both of them considered Japan as their homeland and the city of Ooarai as their hometown.

Giggling at her brother's reaction, Lena passed him the phone as she said. "This is a video of their training match against St. Gloriana last week!"

Taking the phone, Jeremy restarted the video and watched as it showed five British tanks that he recognized as belonging to St. Gloriana's Womens Academy; a Churchill VII and four Matilda IIs, chasing a German Panzer IV Ausf. D through the very same canyon that Jeremy, Lena, and their cousins would ride their bikes through when they were younger. As he studied the Panzer IV, Jeremy noticed that while her tank was taking heavy fire, the commander had her upper body sticking out of her turret.

 _Is she trying to get herself ammo-racked?_ he wondered.

After a particularly close call, the Panzer IV commander seemed to have smartened up since she vanished into her tank. After a few more seconds of chase footage, the scene changed to reveal what had to be the rest of Ooarai's tanks.

And what a sight they were! A bright red StuG III Ausf. F decked out with elaborate banners and slogans in Latin, a bright gold Panzer 38(t), an American M3 Lee that had been painted in a bright pink color, and a Japanese Type 89 I-Go that was being operated by volleyball enthusiasts if the slogans and paintings that decorated it were of any indication.

"Oh yeah, these girls have no idea what they're doing! They're trying to defend a ridge that requires more than five tanks, they don't have their flanks covered..." Jeremy commented. His opinion was given more weight as the Ooarai tanks opened fire on their own Panzer IV as it approached. "And they really need to switch to decaf! St. Gloriana _had_ to have won this one!"

Handing the phone back to Lena, Jeremy added. "I'll watch the rest of that later tonight! But right now, we'd better get down to breakfast before Mom comes looking for us."

Downstairs, Jeremy and Lena found the rest of the family in the kitchen area. Jeremy and Lena's cousins, Tomoko and Yukiko, were sitting at the kitchen table dressed in their own Tankery uniforms while Jeremy's mother, Naoko Shirasawa, was busy preparing a traditional Japanese breakfast consisting of steamed rice and broiled salted salmon. Like her children, Naoko had dark-brown hair that she wore up and her light-brown eyes shined as she watched her children sit down at the table. She was dressed in her usual _ikabana_ robes since flower arranging was her favorite hobby. As the current headmistress of the Ibaraki Academy, it also helped her in reliving stress after a hard day's work.

Tomoko Shirasawa was fifteen years old with raven black hair that she wore in a ponytail and dark brown eyes. Yukiko was the same age as Lena with light-brown shoulder-length hair and eyes. She wore wire-framed glasses.

Nearby, Guderian and Otto were chomping down on their own breakfast of dry dog food. Guderian was Jeremy's German Shepard while Lena owned Otto, a rather sweet-natured Doberman. Tomoko and Yukiko's Beagle, Rommel, had apparently eaten his own food and was currently curled up on his bed, snoring peacefully.

Placing his breakfast down in front of him, Naoko smiled at her son. "So," she asked. "Is my son ready for his very first match as _the_ commander?"

Jeremy had been a member of Ibaraki's Tankery Club since the age of thirteen. At fifteen, he had served as the team's vice-commander but upon graduating, the previous commander, Allison Jones, had named him as her successor.

While boys participating in Tankery would be considered odd in Japan, it was a normal thing in the United States and Europe had been allowing boys to participate since 2001 when a group of German girls found themselves in charge of a fleet of Sturmtigers. Due to being unable to handle the vehicles due to being short on crews and the sheer weight of the projectiles, the girls carefully studied the rules and since there was nothing officially barring boys from participating, the girls reached out to their brothers and their boyfriends to help them with the troublesome vehicles.

While they had planned to make the arrangement a temporary one, the girls actions caused a whirlwind of debate about whether or not it was truly time to allow males to officially become part of the sport once more. While the final decision _did_ result in some negative feedback, the majority of the reactions to male tankers was quite positive. Particularly among those girls who felt that they would finally meet boys who they could consider as their _true_ equals.

At his mother's question, Jeremy sighed. "I suppose so." he answered reluctantly. "I just don't understand why the Japanese Senshado Federation felt it was necessary for us to be given new tanks when we have _more_ than enough good ones already! And these uniforms...!"

"I know that it's a little ridiculous but the JSF _did_ ask you young people to represent Japan in this year's European Panzerkraft Rally since they don't want to send an all-girl team.''

"A _little_ ridiculous? Mother, the JSF sent us ten Type 1 Chi-Hes, five Type 3 Chi-Nus, four Type 4 Chi-Tos, and one Type 5 Chi-Ri! That's _twenty_ new tanks and we have only enough people to crew ten! What's the sense in that?"

Sighing in response to Jeremy's tirade as she sat down at the table with her own breakfast after serving Lena, Naoko fixed him with a look of understanding as she spoke. "I understand, Ichiro..." she said, using Jeremy's middle name. She only used his first name when he was in trouble for something. "But since you have the tanks, you can at least give them a test in the field. Who knows? They may just surprise you!"

"May as well." Jeremy shrugged. "They're already gassed up, loaded up, and ready to go. And since we're up against the Bastille Academy, we should be able to gain a more accurate assessment of their performance."

"That's the spirit!" Naoko smiled in approval. ''And now, let's just enjoy the morning."

Moving as one, Jeremy, Lena, Naoko, Tomoko,and Yukiko all clapped their hands together and chorused " _ITADAKIMASU!"_ before digging into their breakfast.

* * *

A few hours later, Jeremy led Lena, Tomoko, and Yukiko through the gates leading to the Tankery storage and training grounds. Once through, Jeremy saw that the rest of the Tankery Club had arrived and were presently standing in parade formation with each member standing with his or her respective tank crew. Immediately, Lena and Yukiko made their way towards their own crewmates while Jeremy took up a position facing the assembly while Tomoko stood behind him on his right side; revealing her rank as Jeremy's vice-commander.

As he faced his teammates, Jeremy noted with annoyance that each member wore the Imperial Japanese Army-styled uniforms with boys wearing caps and trousers while the girls wore shorts. Apparently the jacket was intended to denote the Commander's rank. Taking a deep breath, Jeremy launched into the briefing.

"Good morning, everyone!" He greeted, prompting the club members to return the sentiment. "As you are all aware, the Japanese Senshado Federation has asked the Ibaraki Academy Tankery Club to represent Japan in this year's European Panzerkraft Rally in the place of their own university-level teams. They don't want their girls exposed to all of the testosterone!"

His comment caused a ripple of laughter and giggles to resonate amongst the members. Jeremy continued on. "But before we can participate in the Rally itself, we first have to fight our way in by facing a local European team in a qualifying match. We win this battle, we get in the tournament! I'll now allow Vice-Commander Shirasawa to brief us on both our current opponent as well as the battle plan."

As Jeremy took a step back, Tomoko stepped forward and placed a portable bulletin board down beside her. "Our opponent for this morning's match will be the French Bastille Academy!" she announced. "After hours of studying video recordings of their matches, we have found that the Bastille Tankery team's tactics are based on defensive strategies but they also have limited mobile warfare capabilities."

Tomoko gestured towards the board which currently held photographs of French tanks bearing the emblem of two crossed rapiers over a _Cross of Lorraine._

"Bastille's primary battle tank is the Char B1-bis. They also possess four Char 2C heavy tanks. While the frontal armor of the B1 is sixty-millimeters, the main guns of the Chi-Ri and the Chi-Tos are capable of penetrating it from a maximum distance of one thousand meters. The 2Cs, however, are far weaker with their armor being only forty-five millimeters thick. Therefore, we will be deploying the Chi-Ri, the Chi-Tos, and the Chi-Nus."

Turning to the next page, Tomoko revealed a topographical map. "This is the Pointe Du Hoc battlefield." she said. "It is a hedgerow-laden terrain surrounded by forests. Here in the center of the battlefield is an island formed by the forks of this river! The island consists of two hills with an old sawmill on one and a windmill on the other. It is accessible only by these three bridges: one to the east, one on the south, and one on the west. _This_ island is the key due to the high ground that it provides as well as the defensive advantages."

Here, Jeremy stepped forward. "You can bet that the Bastille commander will realize this, as well. So, it's going to be a race that we can't afford to lose if we want to be in the tournament. Are there any questions?" When no one spoke up, Jeremy nodded. "Then let's get going!"

Turning around, Jeremy walked towards the storage shed with the rest of the Ibaraki team following behind him. Sliding the doors open, Jeremy saw that the late-war era Japanese tanks were lined up and ready to go. Each of them had been painted a light-brown color with the emblem of the Japanese Senshado Federation adorning their hulls. Now that they were officially the property of the Ibaraki Co-ed Academy, the emblems would have to changed out once the tournament had ended.

As he walked towards the Chi-Ri, Jeremy watched as Lena and her crew climbed into the Chi-Nu that Lena was the commander of while Tomoko, Yukiko, and two other girls headed for Tomoko's Chi-To. Jeremy had heard a saying once about every soldier having two families: the one he raises and the one he raises hell with. He couldn't help but wonder what the author of that saying would say about Jeremy's case.

Turning his attention back towards his destination, Jeremy noticed his tank crew- one boy and three girls- waiting for him in front of the Chi-Ri. "You guys ready to invade France?" he asked with a grin.

"Ready and willing, boss!" answered the Chi-Ri's driver, a short blonde-haired girl wearing an Afrika Korps-styled forage cap, racing goggles, and racing gloves. Her real name was Gabrielle Brixton but she preferred to be called by her nickname of Mouse; a moniker she had picked up during her tenure as a tankette racer rather than her five foot height. Her blue eyes sparkled with anticipation.

"Just tell me what to shoot and consider it gone!" nodded Susan "Gumdrop" Li, a Chinese-American girl who served as Jeremy's gunner. Despite what one would think, Gumdrop didn't get her nickname because of her sweet personality. While she was indeed a sweet person and easy to get along with, Gumdrop had a temper when it came to boys getting fresh with her and she had a wicked right cross.

"I'm ready!" said the only other boy on the team. Jeremy's loader, Josh Hampton, was taller than Jeremy with glasses and black hair. He was also the only boy that could tease Gumdrop and walk away alive.

The final member of the group was Gina Corelli. Gina was an American girl of Italian descent and a recent transfer to Ibaraki from her land-based school in New York City. Her father, Eugene - or simply, Gene- was the team's resident mechanic. Gina was normally Jeremy's radio operator but since they would be using the Chi-Ri, she was stuck with manning the tank's 37mm anti-tank gun that was in the place of the usual machine gun on other tanks. She would also serve as Mouse's navigator.

"I think I can do this." Gina nodded. "But I still miss my old radio position!"

"You'll be fine." Jeremy reassured her. "C'mon guys! France awaits!"

Several minutes later, Jeremy was sitting in the turret as his Chi-Ri led the column of ten tanks out of the Tankery grounds and through the city section where the ship's residents were waiting to give them a proper send-off as the tanks rolled down the platform and onto the soil of Normandy, France.

Once the entire team was off of the ship, Jeremy consulted his map. "Okay Mouse, drive us to those sheds ahead of us. The judges have a pair of trucks waiting to take us to the meeting place."

"You got it." Mouse replied, turning the Chi-Ri in the direction of the large tank sheds. As the column of tanks approached the buildings, Jeremy could see the trucks in question with their drivers who, if their uniforms were of any indication, were members of the French Army.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and directed Mouse to drive the Chi-Ri into the first stall via use of hand signals. As the short driver pulled into the stall and brought the Japanese tank to a stop, Jeremy saw that the rest of the Ibaraki tanks were being guided into their own stalls.

"I guess this where we get off." Jeremy said, as he popped open the Commander's hatch and began to climb out of the Chi-Ri. As his feet touched the ground, another soldier stepped forward while examining the clipboard that he was holding it.

"You are Captain Shirasawa?" he asked in a thick accent.

" _Oui. Je suis Jeremy Shirasawa. Commandant de l'équipe de combat du réservoir M. Ibaraki."_ Jeremy answered in French, surprising the soldier.

" _Vous parlez très bien le français."_ the soldier smiled before switching back to English. "But please, allow me to practice my English. These trucks will take yourself and your team to the opening ceremonies. While you are there, your tanks will be inspected and then transported to your starting position. Please, enjoy your stay in France!"

"Thank you."

Approaching the first truck, Jeremy placed his foot onto the rear bumper and climbed up and into the back. "Where the hell did you learn French?" Josh asked as he sat down beside Jeremy.

"My mom." came the answer. "She was teaching Lena and I how to speak English _and_ Japanese so she decided that learning a few more languages wouldn't hurt."

"So, how many languages _can_ you speak?"

"Other than the ones you already know about? I can also speak Italian and German. My skills in Russian suck, though." Jeremy grinned.

Once both trucks were loaded up, the soldiers on the ground waved at the drivers who, in turn, gently eased the trucks forward and slowly brought them up to speed. Looking back at the sheds, Jeremy watched as a large group of soldiers swarmed the Ibaraki tanks armed with various tools and scanners that were used to check a sport tank for any safety concerns.

* * *

As her son's team was being transported to the opening proceedings, Naoko was making herself comfortable as she sat with the students and other faculty members of Ibaraki Academy. Beside her sat a young woman in her early-30s with loose blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She was dressed in a business suit with a patch bearing the emblem for the Japanese Senshado Federation sewed onto the upper left breast of her jacket.

Her name was Miki Adachi and she was the JSF official assigned to be the liaison between the Ibaraki Academy, the European Panzerkraft Federation, and the Japanese Senshado Federation.

To her superiors in the offices of the JSF, Adachi was seen as a wild card whose ideas on how to improve Japanese Tankery was horrifying to the aforementioned JSF superiors as those ideas were simply... _non-traditional._

"So, what have you found out about this French team?" asked Naoko.

"Well, for starters, the Bastille Panzerkraft team was the subject of what you can consider a hostile takeover." Miss Adachi answered.

"Oh?"

"Yes. The Bastille commander was _supposed_ to be Isabella Bouchard, but she was undermined by this Andre Richelou and his Vice-Captain. So, instead of being Bastille Academy's commander, she's been busted down to being third in command. It's rather unfortunate since this Richelou couldn't lead ants to a picnic and his Vice-Commander, Francois, is too much of a Yes Man to be an effective leader. Therefore, Bouchard does what she can behind the scenes as the Bastille team see her as their true leader." Miss Adachi paused for a moment before continuing.

"However, Commander Richelou has been walking on thin ice with the EPF due to his conduct. The sooner your son takes him out of the match, the better."

Naoko closed her eyes in thought for a few moments before speaking again. "I have been meaning to speak with you about something. I have been looking over the listing of the vehicles that the JSF had us buy and I noticed that two of the tanks listed are rather odd. One of them only made it as far as the wooden mock-up stage in its development and the other, while proven to have been designed, its official existence is purely speculation."

Miss Adachi smiled. "I know which vehicles you are referring to." she said. "While what you have said about the Ho-Ri is true, the O-I _was_ indeed built and what remains of it is in a museum. However, the EPF has been quite curious about the performance of such vehicles and are thus, included in the list of vehicles allowed in European Panzerkraft. To that end, a tank replication company in Germany is building both vehicles for the Ibaraki team."

"Miss Adachi, you are aware that we already own a T-28 Super Heavy that was replicated in the United States? In fact, we have an entire storage facility both on the ship and in Ooarai filled with a vast array of tanks. Why were we forced by the JSF to buy the tanks we're presently using now?"

"Headmistress, you _are_ aware that you yourself signed the contract that states that the Ibaraki Co-Ed Academy would represent Japan in the European tournaments. The Japanese Senshado Federation simply feels that your son's team would represent Japan properly by wearing the uniforms and operating the tanks!"

Naoko didn't say anything to this. As far as she was concerned, the JSF was over-stepping its authority concerning the tanks and uniforms. But, Miss Adachi was right about one thing. She had signed the contract and the only thing that could be done was to hope that the vehicles, which were rather good ones, would hold up in the trial by fire that they were about to receive.

But, the uniforms were still ridiculous.

Naoko's attention was turned to the large screen mounted on a railroad car that was positioned in front of the spectators stands. The screen was now flickering to life to show the trucks bearing the Ibaraki team coming to a stop as they arrived at the meeting spot. Waiting for them was the team from the Bastille Academy, which was made up of both boys and girls who were dressed in dark-blue shirts, white pants, and black boots. Completing their uniforms were French-styled kepis.

* * *

"Well, here we are!" Tomoko announced as the Ibaraki team exited the trucks and assumed parade formation, standing opposite from the Bastille team. Jeremy only nodded in response as he studied his new opponents.

 _The IJA vs the FFL._ Jeremy thought. _Nice.  
_

As he continued to study the French team, Jeremy noticed that one of the tank crews had eight members. Odd.

Once everyone had quieted down, the Head Judge stepped forward and her voice could be heard over the speaker systems. "Welcome to the Pointe Du Hoc Memorial Battlefield! Today's match will be between the Bastille Academy representing the nation of France and the Ibaraki Academy, who are representing Japan! The commanders and vice-commanders of each team will now step forward at this time!"

At the command, Jeremy and Tomoko stepped forward while two males approached from the French team. One was a tall, thin boy with small black eyes, a pale complexion, and white-colored hair. The other was short and fat with a face that made him look like a human toad. From the dossiers they had been given, the taller boy was Andre Richelou, commander for the Bastille Academy. The human toad was his vice-commander, Francois.

As they stopped in the center, Richelou glared at Jeremy and Tomoko with an expression of dislike.

"The commanders will now shake hands!"

As Jeremy extended his hand, Richelou glared at it for a moment before reaching into his pocket and withdrew a latex glove. Putting it on, he then took Jeremy's hand in the same manner as one would grasp something icky.

 _"Je ne touche pas non humains filth..."_ he said, in a hate-filled voice.

Narrowing his eyes in response, Jeremy could only think about how nice it would be to knock out Richelou's teeth but since that would be unsporting, he'd settle for taking out the Frenchman's tank.


End file.
